Tri-nation patrols at railway stations

Joint patrols by Hungarian, Austrian and German police have begun to identify illegal immigrants at major railway stations, a head of department of Hungary’s riot police said this week. Balázs Pethő said two Austrian and two German officers had started working with their Hungarian counterparts, checking on stations from which trains to Western Europe depart. According to figures from the national police, 231 illegal immigrants were detained in the past one day. A sudden increase in the number of illegal entrants to Hungary was registered last autumn due to an influx from Kosovo. For all last year, the illegal entries totalled nearly 45,000, almost all at the Hungary-Serbia border. Since January 1 the number has exceeded 25,000.